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Kent State’s Kent Reads Program Features Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents and Wife, Sept. 28

Posted Sep. 21, 2012

Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents Jim Petro and his wife Nancy Petro will read from their co-authored book “False Justice: Eight Myths that Convict the Innocent” at the Kent State University Library on Friday, Sept. 28, at 2 p.m.

The event, part of the university’s ongoing Kent Reads program, will be held in the Quiet Study Area on the first floor of the library, and it is free and open to the public. Kent Reads features various Kent State faculty, administrators, alumni and students who share meaningful works of literature, poetry, original creative writings and non-fiction.

“False Justice” monitored the development of DNA testing over the last decade. The nonfiction book describes Jim’s awakening to wrongful criminal conviction. Digging deeper, Nancy and Jim share what they discovered, exposing eight common myths about the criminal justice system and providing recommended reforms.

“It’s an interesting blend of memoir, and it also has the research we uncovered,” Nancy said. “It covers three wrongful conviction cases in Ohio. Jim had something about each case that touched him.”

Jim’s career includes 37 years as an attorney and 28 years as an elected public office holder. As Ohio attorney general, he was part of a nation-leading effort that added 210,000 DNA profiles to the national DNA CODIS database. Multiple matches were found resulting in the immediate solving of dozens of cold cases, hundreds over the following months and years.

Nancy has served as the 20-year principal of a graphic design firm, founding editor of a national high school sports magazine and CEO of a sports statistics technology company.

“I had a background in business management and graphic design; nothing related to law, but I became involved with the book,” Nancy said. “Over the past six years, we’ve been researching and our book was published January 2011.”

She said they both look forward to sharing the book with students and other members of the university community.

“We wrote the book because we believe it will take a change in public perception in order to ease the kind of reforms needed to change the justice system,” Nancy said. “We really look forward to discussing the issue of wrongful conviction.”

For more information about “False Justice: Eight Myths that Convict the Innocent,” visit www.falsejustice.com.

For more information about Kent Reads and Kent State University Libraries, visit www.kent.edu/library.